Soul Shinobi
by Fenerath
Summary: Ignored and sabotaged in the Academy, Naruto is forced to find his own means of obtaining the power he needs to achieve his dreams. Using the only help that the Third Hokage is able to provide, he accidentally stumbles across a power as ancient as the Shinigami himself. Watch as the Storm Shinigami takes the world by... well, storm. Strong/Smarter Naruto and some character bashing.
1. Chapter 1: Finding Power

**Authors Note: Hey everyone, this is my first story that I'm writing. Please feel free to let me know how I'm doing and give me tips, corrections, or other critiques. But please, no flames or put downs. If it's not constructive then please keep it to yourself.**

**I will say this now; this may end up being a harem story, I haven't fully decided yet. I like a lot of the possible pairings, and also feel that after the crap he had to go through in his life, he deserves a little extra love. Either way, Naruto won't be seriously dating until he's older. Until then, there will only be some slightly compromising situations with various girls, although he will be kind of clueless about their feelings.**

**Also, Naruto will eventually be overpowered. He will still struggle a bit during fights, so he won't be Godlike per say, but there will be few that can challenge him. He will still have to get there however, so by the time he graduates, he will only be overpowered for a fresh Genin, only strong overall.**

**Finally, there will be bashing. Specifically, Sasuke, civilian council, and elders bashing. There will also be some slight Sakura bashing. I feel that in canon, Sasuke is basically an idiotic prick who can only do what others tell him to do, these others being those he views as enemies or eventually wish him harm. Only in the recent chapters does he start to pull his head from his ass, leaving only the stick there.**

**The civilian council represents the villagers, who are asses in general, so they get bashed too. The elders are power hungry idiots, so I will enjoy making them miserable as well. As for Sakura, she does turn around in canon, and not late canon either, so after giving her some slight bashing and adjustments, I plan to turn her around.**

**If you don't like any of the above, please don't read, or at least keep your opinions to yourself. While I will take suggestions to improve the story and/or writing, the above items will most likely not change. Any suggestions I do take will be acknowledged when they occur.**

**Inspiration for elements of this story comes from phoenix3488's story titled "Shinigami".**

**I don't own Naruto or Bleach. If I did then I'd be rich and wouldn't be writing on a fanfic website. The Uchiha also wouldn't be so overpowered to be broken characters. That would be Naruto.**

"Speech"

_'Thoughts'_

**"Demon Speech"**

**_'Demon Thoughts'_**

Jutsu/Skills

* * *

Chapter 1: Finding Power

It's been six years since the Kyuubi's attack on Konohagakure. The day was another bright sunny day, common in the Land of Fire. It was the type of day which caused most people to smile without thinking about it. There was one small child however, who was currently frowning.

"Jiji," pleaded a six year old. "Pleeeeease?"

"I'm sorry Naruto, but I've already told you that I can't help you. It would be seen as favoritism and an unfair advantage." said the old man sitting behind the desk. The old man was the Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, leader of the shinobi of the Land of Fire. He was an elderly man who was past his prime, although he was still one of the strongest shinobi in the world.

"But Jiji, a lot of the other kids in class have people helping them, why can't I have you help me?" asked Naruto. The child had bright blonde hair that seemed to shine like the sun, and blue eyes that seemed to shift slightly depending on his emotions. Sometimes they were the deep blue of the ocean, and other times they were the crystalline blue of sapphires. He was small for his age, seeming to be closer to four or five than six. One of his most defining features however were six whisker-like birthmarks on his face, three on each cheek.

"That's because of their clan training. One of the oldest laws of the village is that clans can train their own children in their techniques and traditions, to make sure that they don't die out."

"Fine, but I need some help! The teachers keep telling us to use chatara to keep a leaf stuck to our foreheads, but I don't know how to do it!"

At this the Hokage frowned. "First Naruto, the word is _chakra_, not chatara. Also, what do you mean by saying that you don't know how to do it? I know that by now the Academy has already covered the basics on how to access and mold your chakra."

"The teachers kicked me out that day. I dropped my pencil, and when I went to pick it up the teacher said that since I apparently had better things to do than pay attention in class I might as well not be there." the boy said sadly, looking down at the floor.

At this, the Hokage became furious, although he was careful to not let any of his killer intent reach Naruto. Six years ago, when the Kyuubi attacked the village, his successor, Minato Namikaze, sacrificed himself to seal away the demon into a newborn child. The only thing he asked for was that the child be seen as a hero for keeping the Kyuubi imprisoned. However, instead of following his wishes, most of the village, and even some of the shinobi, instead saw him as the demon itself. This led to numerous beatings and attempts on his life, especially on his birthday.

Forcing himself to swallow his anger, he leaned back into his chair and sighed. Apparently even some of the instructors chose to dishonor their hero's dying wish. What made it worse was that, although most of them didn't know it, Naruto was Minato's son. '_I'm so sorry Minato for being unable to do more_.'

Hiruzen lifts his hand to his face and began to think. He knows that if he gives Naruto any training whatsoever, the civilian council would take advantage of that to remove his vote on anything concerning him by saying that he's biased towards his student. '_As if they're not completely biased against him. If I wasn't there, they would have executed him in less than a week! Either that or turned him into a mindless weapon.'_ He then comes up with an idea.

"Naruto, follow me." he said, standing up from his desk. He then guides Naruto to his home, and takes him to his family's library. After a quick search, he locates a basic book on chakra and holds it out to Naruto.

"Naruto, while I can't help you directly this book should be able to teach you how to access your chakra, and hopefully answer any questions you have." Hiruzen said. "Also, I can give you this advice. Remember this; a ninja is one who endures. He endures against the hard training it takes to get the strength to protect his loved ones, he endures against his enemies despite the odds pain he faces, and he endures in deception, using it to fool and surprise his enemies and to achieve victory. Do you understand what I'm saying Naruto?'

Up to this point Naruto was staring at the Hokage with wide eyes. During this little speech Hiruzen had seemingly transformed from the kindly old man that Naruto knew into the legendary shinobi known as "The Professor". He found himself hanging on every word coming out of his mouth.

"I think so Jiji." He answered.

"Good then." said Hiruzen. "Now, I need to get back to work. Please return the book when you're finished."

"OK Jiji!" shouted Naruto. He then ran out of the Hokage's mansion, and seeing as it was still around noon, ran to one of the training grounds located around the city so that he could train in peace.

* * *

_-An Hour Later-_

Naruto was in the middle of one of the training grounds. After having made sure that no one else was around, he found a good spot and sat down, opened the book the Hokage gave him, and began to read.

_Chakra_, the book began, _is made up of a mixture of two different energies. The first energy is physical energy. This energy is produced by the body and involves the aspects of the body such as endurance and strength. To increase the amount of physical energy one has, one should train the body to increase its stamina and power. _

_The second type of energy is spiritual energy. This energy is produced by the mind and soul, and concerns one's willpower and experience. The amount of spiritual energy can be increased through meditation, learning, and experiences in life._

_Both of these energies are mixed in the body to produce chakra. There are multiple ways to unlock one's chakra, but the most common way is through meditation. By meditating and focusing into the depths of one's mind, one can eventually sense their chakra network, which allows them to consciously access their chakra_.

Reading this, Naruto was slightly disappointed. He has always had difficulty with meditation when they did it in class; he just had too much energy to sit still that long. Still, if he wanted to be able to use chakra, he needed to do so. So with that in mind, he put down the book, closed his eyes, and began to meditate.

* * *

_-Mindscape-_

After a while on focusing inwards, he noticed that he felt like he was descending. Since he knew that he was still sitting, he thought that he must be doing like the book said so he continued. After a while, he found himself in what looked like a sewer. He looked around and saw pipes going everywhere. There were two pipes however that caught his attention. One was blue, and another was red.

_'My mind is a sewer? Oh, that's just GREAT!' _Naruto thought sarcastically_. 'I know that I like to look at pretty girls and all, but still didn't think I was that perverted or anything!'_ Naruto let out a sigh, and then took a closer look at the pipes.

_'Are these pipes my chakra network?'_ Naruto looked around and saw that there was a tunnel leading forward. He was about to follow the tunnel, when he noticed a side passage that had a staircase going down. He thought about what the book said about going into the depths of his mind, and decided to go further down just in case the pipes weren't his chakra network and he still needed to descend more.

With that in mind, he began to climb down the stairs. After a while, he came to the end of the stairs and found himself in what seemed to be an underground cavern of immense proportions. He walked forward a bit and saw that he was in between two fairly large ponds.

On his left, there was a pond of some sort of extremely thick and viscous liquid that was golden in color. It almost looked like honey, except that it was more metallic in color. It was like someone had made a pond of thick liquid gold.

On his right there was another pond of a silvery liquid. Where the liquid in the other pond was a thick and heavy fluid, the liquid in this pond seemed light and airy. It almost seemed smoke-like and gaseous somehow, while still definitely being a liquid.

He first went over to the golden pond, and slowly placed his hand into it. As he touched it, he began feeling strength filling his body. Excited, he dove into the pond and noticed that he felt GOOD, unnoticed aches and pains fading away. After a while he got out of the pond, noticing that as soon as he left he appeared to dry out, but still has the feeling of strength and goodness from before.

He then went over to the silver pond, and placed his hand in it. This time, he noticed that he immediately began to feel rested and relaxed. He also submerged his body into the pond and this time he felt completely at peace. He relished the feeling, since it was the first time that he can remember feeling so. Even during the few times in his life that he was genuinely happy, a part of him held back, always on the alert. Now however, he felt truly calm and peaceful. He then got out of the silver pond and looked around.

He then looked beyond the ponds, and saw what seemed to be a recessed lake. This time however, it was filled with what seemed to be some sort of liquid blue fire. How fire could be liquid, he had no idea, but that's the impression he got from the blue lake. He took a closer look and saw that the two ponds beside him were cascading into the lake with small waterfalls.

Looking around he realized what the two ponds and the lake were. _'This is the source of my chakra. The two ponds are my physical and spiritual energies, while the lake is my chakra'_ he thought amazed. _'The golden pond must be my physical energy, while the silver pond is my spiritual energy.' _He took a closer look at the lake and noticed a pipe coming down from the ceiling and stopping about 2 feet above the surface of the lake.

It was a clear pipe, so he could see the liquid within it. At the top of the pipe, the liquid started out red and as it traveled down the pipe it slowly turned purple and then blue like the lake, although it was still a darker color. As he looked, he noticed after a while that as the now blue liquid slowly dripped into the lake that the lake was slowly increasing in size. Another thing he realized was that although the ponds had miniature waterfalls pouring into the lake, somehow they were not causing any ripples whatsoever. The slow dripping from the pipe however was causing the surface of the lake to ripple like a lake in real life.

Curious as to the nature of the pipe, seeing as the book didn't mention anything like this, he went over to the lake and placed his hand in his chakra. This time he felt power coursing through his veins. He waded in and felt energized. Slowly, he made his way over to the pipe. He reached his hand out under the pipe and caught a drop of the liquid.

_'Heavy!'_ Naruto thought. The liquid from the pipe was 10 times heavier than his normal chakra, and felt thicker too. He then took a closer look at the pipe, and noticed that it seemed to have various rings of what looked like script at even intervals on its length. He realized that as the liquid passed through each ring; it became more and more blue.

He thought about the script for a minute, and realized that it looked just like the seals he sometimes saw in the scrolls in the Hokage's office. 'These seals must be slowly transforming the red liquid into chakra. But what is the red liquid?'

He looked up at the pipe and saw a small spigot near the top where the liquid was still red. Deciding to find out the nature of the liquid, he grabbed the pipe and began shinnying up it. When he reached the spigot, he placed his hand on the valve and opened it.

Nothing happened.

Curious as to why nothing was coming out, he looked up from underneath the spigot, trying to see what was blocking it. Unfortunately for him, this was just in time for a large splash of the liquid to hit him right in the face.

He screamed as he felt the liquid begin to burn his face and eyes, and fell off the pipe. Luckily for him, he still had his hand on the valve, so as he fell he accidentally turned the valve, closing the spigot. He splashed into the lake of chakra while clutching his face, but his chakra didn't seem to lessen the pain he was feeling. In fact, it only seemed to give the burning sensation more power. It was the worst pain he had ever gone through in his life. If he had not gone through past experiences of being beaten and tortured by angry mobs, he wouldn't have known how to handle the pain and he would have been completely mindless from the pain.

He quickly made his way out of the lake and rushed into the golden pond, reasoning through his pain that since it seemed to ease his aches before it might stop his pain. However, after he submerged himself he found that while the pain did not increase like it did in the lake, it didn't lessen either. In fact, the only change he could perceive was that the skin of his face seemed to harden under his hands.

He made his way out of the golden pond and then quickly dove into the silver one, desperate for anything to stop the pain. This time, the pain seemed to go deeper into his body than before. Quickly though, the pain started to ebb until it finally stopped. He slowly made his way out of the pond, breathing heavily, and collapsed on the ground.

After a while, he finally felt well enough to stand, and made his way back to the silver pond and looked at his reflection. He gasped at what he saw.

His face was covered by a white mask that was slightly similar to the masks he saw used by the ANBU. It had a fox motif, with a slight muzzle with grinning, sharp teeth. On the cheeks of the mask, he had six black whiskers painted on similar to his own natural birthmarks, but thicker and going to the edge of the mask. Two foxlike ears extended from the sides of the mask at eye level, but sweeping back and completely covering over his ears, as if replacing them. The "insides" of the ears were filled in black, with the black extending itself to reach and surround the eye holes of the mask.

If it wasn't for how he got the mask, he would have thought that it looked badass.

The most disturbing thing he saw however were his eyes. Instead of his normal crystalline blue eyes, his sclera were now pitch black, and his irises were now gold. They were as beautiful as his normal eyes, but now seemed to exhibit a dark coldness that were absent from his normal eyes.

"**What the hell is this?!**" Naruto screamed, and then jerked at the sound of his own voice. It now seemed to have a hollowness to it that seemed to almost echo, but didn't.

As he stared at his reflection, he saw the mask slowly sink into his skin, leaving him with the black and gold eyes. As he looked however, his eyes slowly reverted back into his normal blue ones.

Naruto stared for another moment at his reflection. "What the hell just happened?" he asked himself. He got up and decided to leave.

* * *

_-Real World-_

Naruto slowly got up and stretched. He looked up at the sky and was shocked to realize that almost no time had passed. 'Weird, I could have sworn I spent hours down there.' Seeing as he still had a lot of time until he had to go home, he decided to see if he could access and control his chakra. Focusing his mind, he willed his chakra to move to his palms.

After a few tries, he felt a rush of power fill his hand. _'I did it!'_ he cheered in his mind. _'Now all I have to do is practice sticking the leaf to my forehead, and I'll be good to go!'_ With that thought, Naruto picked a leaf from a nearby tree and began trying to use chakra to make it stick to his forehead.

* * *

_-Several Hours Later-_

After practicing until the sun started to set, Naruto decided to get some dinner at Ichiraku Ramen. 19 bowls of ramen later, he went home to sleep. After taking a shower and changing into his pajamas, he went to his bed to lie down. As he was going to his bed however, he caught his reflection in a mirror and paused. Remembering the mask in his mindscape, he began checking himself to make sure that everything was fine.

Even after making sure that there were no traces of a mask on him (or in him as the mask had seemed to sink into his skin), he still felt slightly worried. He began to channel chakra to his face, thinking that if nothing happens while doing that then he was safe.

Nothing occurred, but his eyes felt a little funny when he did this. With a weight in his stomach from fear and worry, he then tried to channel his chakra only to his eyes. His control however was still bad, so he ended up only sending chakra to his entire face. After a few more unsuccessful tries, he finally managed to channel chakra only to his eyes, which made the strange feeling return. He then started increasing the amount of chakra that was going to his eyes. That's when it happened, and what he saw made him gasp.

Looking back from the mirror at him were two black and golden eyes.

* * *

**Author's Notes: That's the end of the first chapter. I'm planning to release the first few chapters together to build a base for the story for everyone to get a feel for it. I'm calling this first section the Finding Arc. It will be slow, but remember that he's still a child and in the relative "safety" of the village, meaning that he won't need to fight until the graduation exams. The next arc is when the action will begin to pick up. Please, read and review the chapters to let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2: Finding Truth

**Authors Note: Hey everyone, this is my first story that I'm writing. Please feel free to let me know how I'm doing and give me tips, corrections, or other critiques. But please, no flames or put downs. If it's not constructive then please keep it to yourself.**

**I will say this now; this may end up being a harem story, I haven't fully decided yet. I like a lot of the possible pairings, and also feel that after the crap he had to go through in his life, he deserves a little extra love. Either way, Naruto won't be seriously dating until he's older. Until then, there will only be some slightly compromising situations with various girls, although he will be kind of clueless about their feelings.**

**Also, Naruto will eventually be overpowered. He will still struggle a bit during fights, so he won't be Godlike per say, but there will be few that can challenge him. He will still have to get there however, so by the time he graduates, he will only be overpowered for a fresh Genin, only strong overall.**

**Finally, there will be bashing. Specifically, Sasuke, civilian council, and elders bashing. There will also be some slight Sakura bashing. I feel that in canon, Sasuke is basically an idiotic prick who can only do what others tell him to do, these others being those he views as enemies or eventually wish him harm. Only in the recent chapters does he start to pull his head from his ass, leaving only the stick there.**

**The civilian council represents the villagers, who are asses in general, so they get bashed too. The elders are power hungry idiots, so I will enjoy making them miserable as well. As for Sakura, she does turn around in canon, and not late canon either, so after giving her some slight bashing and adjustments, I plan to turn her around.**

**If you don't like any of the above, please don't read, or at least keep your opinions to yourself. While I will take suggestions to improve the story and/or writing, the above items will most likely not change. Any suggestions I do take will be acknowledged when they occur.**

**I don't own Naruto or Bleach. If I did then I'd be rich and wouldn't be writing on a fanfic website. The Uchiha also wouldn't be so overpowered to be broken characters. That would be Naruto.**

"Speech"

_'Thoughts'_

**"Demon/Spirit Speech"**

**_'Demon/Spirit Thoughts'_**

Jutsu/Skills

* * *

Chapter 2: Finding Truth

_-Six Months Later-_

Naruto has spent the last six months mostly training in his mindscape. Every day after class, he would find somewhere quiet and start meditating. He realized after the first day of meditating that time seemed to pass by faster within his mind than in the real world. He could train for hours within his mind while only a few minutes pass by in real life. Not only that, but since it's his mind, he can create all the materials he needs for training, such as leaves for chakra control exercises. His only worry was that since the training was inside his mind, it wouldn't make any difference in real life, but some tests he did proved that it worked. While there were some slight adjustments that he had to make in real life, for the most part what training he did in his mindscape carried over into the real world.

The only training that he couldn't do in his mindscape was for his physical body, although he had discovered a slight cheat for that. While training in his mindscape, he would take breaks where he would submerge himself in his pools of spiritual and physical energies. Eventually, he began to notice some slight changes in himself. He began to realize that the more he submerged himself in spiritual energy, the clearer his thinking became and the easier it became to comprehend things. Whereas before he had to have the same thing explained several times to be able to understand something, now he started to understand things on the first try. He also found himself calmer and less restless, and it became easier to meditate.

Also, the more that he became submerged in physical energy, the denser and stronger his body would be willing to grow when he did train it. Training his body began to have a more noticeable and immediate effect, and instead of his muscles getting larger, they became more compact. This allowed him to have the same power as larger muscles, but without the bulk to slow him down. Also, for a short time after being submerged, his body would have more power and heal faster, although it would soon return to its normal state.

All in all, he was feeling that his life was looking up, even if he had to hide it. As he began to do better in class, it seemed that the number of attacks he had to face was increasing. Not only that, he could tell that the attackers were willing to do more harm than usual. Even though he was usually able to escape them nowadays (unless they had full-fledged shinobi among them), he still decided to stay at the bottom of the rankings. This was due to remembering what the Hokage told him when he first gave him the book on chakra.

He considered pretending to like one of the many fan girls in class, maybe even the pink haired one since she was kind of pretty, and constantly ask her out. This would enforce the illusion that he was an idiot, since he knew that he would get rejected each and every time, possibly in a violent way. However after thinking about it, he decided not to go that far. If he ever did end up liking someone, the girl might end up feeling that he only wants to go out with her because he couldn't get the true object of his affections. Or if a girl ended up liking him, she might not think that she has a chance and not even try to approach him.

So to prevent any future misunderstandings that might end up keeping him from finding a girl, he decided to just keep to himself and let someone approach him unless he ends up falling for someone in the future.

One of the things he noticed however was that while he had mastered the leaf exercise, even creating variants to increase the difficulty, he was no longer gaining any benefits from doing it. The class had covered the Henge jutsu, as well as the Bushin jutsu, but although he eventually managed to do the Henge he couldn't seem to do the Bushin at all. He spent some time thinking about the issue, and decided that he had to find better chakra control exercises.

His main problem however was that he knew that he couldn't ask the Hokage for any more help. While the new teacher Iruka was fair and didn't pick on him like the others did, he didn't have much time free since he was also helping the other students. That left only one option: the library.

Unfortunately, every time he tried going into the library in the past, he was immediately kicked out. This time he had a plan however. He walked over to the library and entered a side alley, and after making sure that he was out of sight he then used the Henge technique to transform into a random villager. He then walked right past the librarian at the door, and into the first floor of the library. The library was divided into floors based on ranks.

The first floor was open to civilians and academy students. The second floor was only open to Genin and above, while the third floor was open only to Chunin and above. Finally the fourth floor was only open to Jonin and above. ANBU and Hokage restricted materials were kept in secure locations elsewhere. Each floor had a guard of that rank to prevent unauthorized people from accessing that floor. While he could sneak into the civilian level, what he needed was in the Genin level of the library, and an academy student's Henge wasn't going to fool a shinobi that was looking for it, even a Genin.

Still, if one was patient enough, there were ways around it. And one of the things his pranks have taught him was patience and stealth. Even if the only shinobi grade clothes that the shinobi stores were willing to sell him were all HERE-I-AM-KILL-ME-NOW orange (saying that hopefully if he managed to graduate an enemy shinobi will spot him easily and kill him), he treated it as a challenge instead. If he can sneak past a group of ANBU and put itching power in their underwear, while wearing said orange jumpsuit, then he can sneak past ANYTHING when wearing proper shinobi clothing.

So he waited until another shinobi brought the one doing guard duty lunch, and then while the guard was distracted put laxatives into his food. Sure enough, after a short wait, the guard suddenly got up and ran to the bathroom. Naruto then Henged into the ninja that brought the guard lunch, and walked up into the second floor.

Here, Naruto found the books on chakra control exercises he was looking for. He put the books in his pocket, and then started walking around the second floor looking for anything else that he might need. He came across a section for clans, and knowing that his class was full of clan heirs he decided to take a look. He saw clans that he recognized from class, like the Aburame clan, and others that he didn't, like the Kurama clan. While he was looking through the clans he came across his own name.

_'What? This can't be right'_ he thought to himself. He took a closer look at the book in question and confirmed that it was titled _The Uzumaki Clan_. Deciding to take a closer look, he added the book to his collection. Then he continued to look over the second floor, and came across a section named _Kekkei Genkai_(Bloodline Limits). Curious, he looked through the section and found a book describing the basics of kekkei genkai and what they then saw another book titled _Dojutsu_ (Eye Techniques). This made him think back to when he changed his eyes by channeling chakra to them. He grabbed that book as well and then decided to leave. He walked out of the library before the guard got back to his post.

* * *

_-One Week Later-_

He had finished going through the books and was leaning back and thinking about what he read. He had seen that the next step in the chakra control exercised was called Tree Walking, and that the step after that was called Water Walking. He had finished the tree walking exercise in one day thanks to training in his mindscape, and then he finished the water walking exercise the day after that. Now he was trying to come up with variations on both exercises to make them more difficult and further increase his chakra control.

He still couldn't do a stupid Bushin however.

He did finally manage to realize the reason why he was failing to do the jutsu. He was putting too much chakra into it and was overloading it. However, no matter how little chakra he tried to put into the jutsu, it always came out pale and looking like it was dying. Hopefully after coming up with some variations to the chakra control exercises, he would be able to increase his control to the point where he would be able to perform the Bushin jutsu.

Meanwhile, he had looked through the book about his clan. What he saw there astounded him. His clan was arguably one of the most powerful clans of all time. It was so strong, they basically had their own village, and it took a union of three shinobi villages, two of them being Great Villages, to bring them down. Even then they still managed to cause heavy damages, which was why Konohagakure and its allies managed to win the Third Shinobi World War.

His clan was renowned for various things. One of them was their vitality. The Uzumaki were known for their long lifespans, excellent health, and powerful chakra and stamina. Their vitality was renown all over the Elemental Nations. This lead the clan to be known as the Immortal Clan.

Another reason they were renowned was for their mastery of seals. The Uzumaki were seal masters of a level that even today made the current seal masters seem like infants. They could do basically anything with seals given enough time, and even without enough time what they could do was highly impressive.

The last reason for their fame was for their kenjutsu. Uzumakis were master swordsman, with the majority of the clan able to fight on par with the Seven Swordsman of Mist. They had sword techniques and styles that were unheard of elsewhere, and led many other villages to try to spy on them to learn their secrets. However their mastery of seals always alerted them of any attempts of espionage, so no one ever succeeded.

All of this information was a little much to take in, but it also made him wonder. If he was an Uzumaki (and despite not having red hair the clan was known for there was no reason to think otherwise), why was he so hated in the village. He had checked his clan's history and saw that they were one of the founding clans of the village; the Shodai Hokage's wife was an Uzumaki! Given the power of the past Uzumakis, shouldn't the village be happy to have one and treat him on par with the Uchihas?

Putting aside his thoughts about his clan, he then read the book about kekkei genkai. Some of the bloodlines described in that book were amazing! The abilities to make lava or trees grow at will were astounding. If it wasn't for the fact that only those with the right genes could use these techniques, he would be right now trying to use them. After finishing that book, he then turned to the book on dojutsu kekkei genkai. Realizing that what happened to his eyes could be a new ability, he became relieved.

Ever since he realized six months ago that by pumping chakra into his eyes changed them, he became afraid of what was occurring and stopped. He was afraid that his eyes would eventually stay that way and that he'd become some sort of freak. But after reading about the sharingan and other dojutsu, he realized that the change would revert whenever he stopped channeling chakra to his eyes. Now he wanted to experiment and see what his eyes were capable of.

But first, he had to access his chakra network. He had realized that he had never truly accessed his chakra network while he was meditating; he had gone directly to its source. While this had the effect he was looking for of unlocking his chakra, he hoped that by checking his chakra network he would gain some immediate increase of control. If nothing else he would be able to at least say honestly that he had accessed it.

So here he was again in the middle of a training ground, focusing his concentration inwards. This time he stopped in the sewer, and did not continue down into the cavern that contained his energy pools. Instead, he followed the main tunnel and pipes. After a while, ha came across a large chamber. It seemed big enough to hold half of Konoha! There seemed to be large metal support columns making a line across half of the chamber, along with some sort of paper tag on one of them. From here he saw various tunnels leading elsewhere, and pipes following the tunnels.

_'This must be the main focus of my chakra network.'_ Naruto thought to himself. He looked back at the support columns and took a closer look at them. Something seemed off about them. Even though the columns went up very high, they seemed too close together for some reason. In fact, if he didn't know better he would say that it was some sort of cage. But that was impossible right? Why would he have a cage in his chakra network?

**"Kukukuku. So my jailor finally comes to visit me. I should be honored."**

The loud, deep voice caused Naruto to jump in surprise. "Who's there? Show yourself! And explain how you're in my mind!" Naruto yelled as he looked around for the source of the voice.

**"I've seen your memories kit, and I know that you know of me. As for what I'm doing in your mindscape, well I was sealed here long ago. And as for showing myself… here, take a look."** said the deep, rough voice. With that Naruto suddenly saw two large red eyes on the other side of the cage. They slowly came closer, and out of the depths of the darkness in the back of the cage came a gigantic red-orange fox. The fox was HUGE! It was at least the size of the Hokage Mountain. But what stood out most about the fox was its tail.

Or rather tails.

All nine of them.

"Y-y-you-you're the Kyuubi!" shouted a surprised Naruto.

**"Why yes, yes I am kit."** replied the fox.

"But, the Yondaime killed you years ago!"

**"Reports of my demise have been… greatly exaggerated."** the fox chuckled. **"I am a Biju, a being made from living chakra. I can't BE killed. The best that can be done is that I can be dispersed for a few years, and then I will reform in an environment that matches my nature that is close to where I was dispersed. For me that means that I would reform right here in Konoha."**

"But then, why are you here? I mean, if you were dispersed, then why are you in my mindscape?" asked a thoroughly confused Naruto.

**"That's just it kit, I was never dispersed. You see, the Yondaime of yours knew what would happen if he tried, not that he had the strength to do so anyways, so he did the next best thing that would also keep me from reforming within the village."**

"What did he do?" asked Naruto nervously. He had a feeling that he would not like where this was going.

**"What he did was simple; he sealed me into a newborn kit. In other words, he sealed me into you." The fox growled at Naruto.**

With this Naruto fell back on his ass, his legs no longer having the strength to hold himself up and giving in. This was the reason why the villagers hated him. This was why they called him the "Demon Brat" and other names. This was why they would beat him and torture him on a regular basis. He knew that he wasn't the demon itself, otherwise how can he be speaking to it? Still, he had the demon inside of himself, so to the villagers there was no difference.

With tears in his eyes, he looked up at the fox and asked just one word, "Why?"

The fox looked down at the boy and growled, **"He did it for three reasons, and I'll start with the least important. A Biju can only be sealed into a young child. After a few years, a child's chakra network begins to solidify and attempting to place a Biju into a child after that will just kill him after a short time and release the Biju. There are some rare exceptions where older children still have flexible chakra networks, but as I said they are rare, and there is no way to find one without going through many children. You were the closest child that matched the requirements."**

**"The second reason is that you are an Uzumaki. Throughout history, only three clans have had chakra that can affect Biju. The Uchiha could control Biju, while the Senju could calm and subdue them. The Uzumaki clan however had chakra that could contain them, either externally or internally. In regards to me, the strongest of the Biju, no other child would have been able to contain me and live."**

With each reason, Naruto shrunk in on himself more and more, tears filling his eyes. He had worshiped the Yondaime and seen him as a hero. Now to find out that he was the reason for all of Naruto's suffering and for no other reason than it was convenient, it was heartbreaking.

The fox kept looking down at the boy, and after a few moments continued. **"… The third, final, and most important reason to him as to why he chose you… is that he could not ask any other parent to do what he could not."** At this Naruto's head snapped up, and his eyes opened wide.

"What?" he whispered, his eyes wide as he was unable to contain his shock.

**"I said that you are his son. While he knew of the burden that he was placing within you, he could not ask another family to give up their child if he was unwilling. No matter how much he may have wished it otherwise, he had to use you. Also, he trusted you to be able to eventually control my power, and to use it wisely. While the memory is no longer here in your mind, when I was first sealed I heard from one of your memories as a newborn him asking the Sandaime to try to have the villagers see you as a hero. Obviously he failed."**

"Obviously." Naruto muttered. His mind was in shock from everything that he learned. Still, his mind was functional enough to realize one thing. He narrowed his eyes, looked up at the fox and asked, "Why are you telling me this? You could have left it at only the first two reasons and then tried to get me to free you while I was in pain and not thinking clearly. So why did you try to… comfort me I guess is the best word to use. Why did you try to comfort me?"

The Kyuubi looked down at the boy for a few moments before answering. **"…while I may be a demon, even I have a heart. I already told you, I've seen your past and know what you've been through. Even I'm disgusted by what you've been through. The beatings, poisonings, torture, ridicule, being forced to eat garbage unless you eat at that ramen store, and so much more. While I hate humanity for using me and my family as weapons and sealing us away, I know that you had no say in this at all. This seal makes you as much of a prisoner as me. So I've decided that instead of trying to kill you or take over, instead I'd try to make a deal with you."**

At this Naruto looked at the fox warily. "What kind of deal?"

The fox looked down at Naruto and considered his words carefully. **"I will help you to train and become a shinobi unequaled throughout history, with the exception of possibly the Rikudo Sennin. I will teach you everything I know and have learned over the years and help you to become Hokage. In exchange, I just want three things."**

**"First, I want access to your senses, and to be able to communicate with you outside of your mind. We would need this anyways if I'm going to train you, but basically I want to be able to see what you see, feel what you feel, hear what you hear, and so on. You have no idea how boring it can get in here with nothing to do for years on end."**

**"The second thing that I want is for you to, at the end of your life, to release me somewhere humans can't find me. I don't want to be imprisoned again, I just want to be left alone."**

**"Finally, I want you to pass a law when you become Hokage. I want you to make it illegal to ever make another jinchuriki for Konoha, punishable by death for all involved except the child."**

"What's a jinchuriki?"

**"A jinchuriki is what you call a human with a Biju sealed into them. In other words, someone like you."**

Naruto thought about the deal and its conditions, but could find nothing bad about them. He just had one condition of his own. "I agree, but with one condition of my own and an exception. The condition is that you never attack Konoha again. The exception is that a jinchuriki can be made if the Biju is attacking the village and there is no other way to stop it. However, after that the jinchuriki must then do the same thing I will and release the Biju away from humans at the end of his life."

At this the Kyuubi tilted his head and considered his host. **'Well well, looks like he has a brain in there after all.'**

**"Agreed. Now kit, to give me access to your senses and allow me to communicate with you after you leave here, cut off a corner of the seal tag on my cage, but no more than a square inch. Anymore and the backlash will overload you and kill you. Then leave here, go home, and rest. Training starts tomorrow."**

After doing as he was asked, Naruto left his trance and went home for the evening.

* * *

**Author's Notes: That's the end of the second chapter, and part two of the Finding Arc. Please, read and review to let me know what you think so far.**


	3. Chapter 3: Finding Strength

**Authors Note: Hey everyone, this is my first story that I'm writing. Please feel free to let me know how I'm doing and give me tips, corrections, or other critiques. But please, no flames or put downs. If it's not constructive then please keep it to yourself.**

**I will say this now; this may end up being a harem story, I haven't fully decided yet. I like a lot of the possible pairings, and also feel that after the crap he had to go through in his life, he deserves a little extra love. Either way, Naruto won't be seriously dating until he's older. Until then, there will only be some slightly compromising situations with various girls, although he will be kind of clueless about their feelings.**

**Also, Naruto will eventually be overpowered. He will still struggle a bit during fights, so he won't be Godlike per say, but there will be few that can challenge him. He will still have to get there however, so by the time he graduates, he will only be overpowered for a fresh Genin, only strong overall.**

**Finally, there will be bashing. Specifically, Sasuke, civilian council, and elders bashing. There will also be some slight Sakura bashing. I feel that in canon, Sasuke is basically an idiotic prick who can only do what others tell him to do, these others being those he views as enemies or eventually wish him harm. Only in the recent chapters does he start to pull his head from his ass, leaving only the stick there.**

**The civilian council represents the villagers, who are asses in general, so they get bashed too. The elders are power hungry idiots, so I will enjoy making them miserable as well. As for Sakura, she does turn around in canon, and not late canon either, so after giving her some slight bashing and adjustments, I plan to turn her around.**

**If you don't like any of the above, please don't read, or at least keep your opinions to yourself. While I will take suggestions to improve the story and/or writing, the above items will most likely not change. Any suggestions I do take will be acknowledged when they occur.**

**I don't own Naruto or Bleach. If I did then I'd be rich and wouldn't be writing on a fanfic website. The Uchiha also wouldn't be so overpowered to be broken characters. That would be Naruto.**

"Speech"

_'Thoughts'_

**"Demon/Spirit Speech"**

**_'Demon/Spirit Thoughts'_**

Jutsu/Skills

* * *

Chapter 3: Finding Strength

_-Another Six Months Later-_

In the past six months, Naruto, now seven, has progressed well under the tutelage of the Kyuubi. After making the deal with the fox, Naruto began his new training regimen, building up his basics. One of the first things that the Kyuubi had him do was to Henge into a random civilian and purchase standard training weights. These weights only go up to 25 pounds each, but they were a good place to start. Plus, since Naruto was still growing and was in his early years of development it was unwise to use too much weight since it would only stunt his growth.

After getting up early in the morning for a long jog to build up stamina, some suicide sprints to help build up speed, and some calisthenics to build up strength and flexibility, he would then head to class. Or rather a shadow clone would head to class. One of the first things that the Kyuubi had taught him was the Kage Bushin technique, which allowed him to make solid clones of himself that could even fool Jonin if performed correctly. Not only were they solid, but anything they learned was passed back to the original body and all other clones. The only times when he would head to class were on the days that they had sparring, since one hit would cancel the technique.

Otherwise, he would create dozens of shadow clones during the day and have them practice the chakra control exercises, since by using so much chakra, his reserves kept increasing which ended up worsening his control. Then he would create dozens of other clones and have them practice various taijutsu katas that he would get from scrolls that he would stea… that is borrow from the library. While shadow clones could not pass on any physical aspects of training, they could help him learn the techniques.

After doing some research to find out how to best use his clones for training, he found that muscle memory consists of two parts. The first part is strengthening the muscles used by a kata. Since all muscles are constantly being used for every action performed, strengthening the specific muscles used for a movement makes that movement easier in the future. Repeating an action over and over helps strengthen only the muscles used for that action. This was something that could not be passed on through shadow clones.

However, the second part of muscle memory lies in the brain. Instincts, reflexes, and knowledge in the brain on how to best use its muscles for specific movements are all part of muscle memory, and this is what the shadow clones transfer. Physical training in using the katas is still needed, but instinctual use of them can easily be learned.

Meanwhile, he would be training his physical body by sparring with clones, exercising with weights, and practicing the taijutsu styles on his own to help enforce the styles on his body as well as start strengthening the muscles used by them. Then after class, he would then begin his marathon run around the village.

Several times.

In one go and at varying paces.

_'Sadistic bastard fox.'_

Then he would practice his stealth and infiltration techniques. He would try to sneak into places and then get out without anyone being the wiser. He wouldn't go anywhere that would get him into any serious trouble, just somewhere that he shouldn't be in and had sensor type shinobi guarding them. To provide himself with a reason for being there so that no one could accuse him of being a traitor or find out that he was training, he would pull a prank on whoever he snuck in on.

For the first part of this training, he would go and try to enter restricted areas while using disguises and trying to mask his chakra and scent. This way he could test different ways to get past searchers while hiding in plain sight. This would be invaluable against trackers and sensors if a mission ever went badly and he had to escape.

He would then try to get into places without being seen, while wearing his burn-your-eyes-out orange jumpsuit. It took him a while at first, but after enough practice he was making it in and out of places without being caught. He could now sneak into the Chunin and Jonin sections of the library with ease and get anything he wanted to learn from there. Now if he wanted a challenge he had to prank the Hyugas or ANBU.

After that he would sit down and meditate, going into his mindscape. One thing that he found was that the deeper he went into his mind, the slower time seemed to passed by outside. So with this in mind, most of his training that wasn't physical was done in what he began to call his "Source" level. There he would continue his practice sessions for his katas and chakra control, only stopping to occasionally practice them outside of his mindscape to fully integrate and synch his experiences with his body.

There was one thing though that he couldn't practice in that level, forcing him to ascend to his "Network" level. That was the art of Fuinjutsu. For that he needed a teacher, and the fox was the only one available. Having been hosted in two previous Uzumakis, the Kyuubi had learned much about seals. Naruto still remembered learning about the previous jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, and his connection to them. Not to mention the events that ended with both of his parents dead and the fox sealed within him.

* * *

_- Flashback - One Week After the Start of Training -_

"Hey Kyuubi, how do you know so much about how to train to be a shinobi and about ninjutsu? I mean, this was created by people to use chakra to fight. You're a giant chakra monster, why and how would you even learn this?" Naruto asked one day after a particularly difficult workout.

The Kyuubi looked down at the boy, wondering how he would take the news. **"… The reason why I know about ninjutsu and how a ninja trains is because I have the memories of my past containers and of how and when they trained to become ninjas."**

At this the boy's eyes grew wide. "WHAT?!"

The giant fox let out a sigh and looked off into the distance. **"… As much as I don't like to think about my past, I'll tell you this because I think that you'll need to know about it eventually. Plus, it directly concerns you anyways and it's about an enemy that you'll most likely have to face one day."**

"An enemy?"

**"Yes, an enemy. The same person who is responsible for your parent's deaths."** Naruto became shocked, and stood completely still after hearing this.

**"It first started back in the days of your first Hokage. During that time, Hashirama Senju was close friends with Madara Uchiha, but after Hashirama became the Hokage, they had a falling out. The two fought, and during that fight Madara managed to summon me and place me under his control. To stop me, I was then sealed into Hashirama's wife, Mito Uzumaki, and thus the first jinchuriki of the Kyuubi was made. Being an Uzumaki, she survived the sealing due to her chakra's properties, even though she wasn't a newborn."**

**"After many years, as she was nearing the end of her life, another Uzumaki was sent to Konoha to become my second container. Her name was Kushina Uzumaki… and she was your mother." **Hearing this, Naruto's eyes grew even wider, although he kept silent seeing as the Kyuubi still had more to say.

**"Years later, Kushina married your father in secret and got pregnant. However, one thing you should remember is that when a female jinchuriki goes through childbirth, the seal containing the biju weakens. Your father took every precaution to prevent me from breaking out, but it was at this time that your enemy struck. He broke the seal and forced me out of your mother. Then he took control of me and forced me to attack your village. The rest, you know."**

"Who is the one who controlled you? Shouldn't an Uchiha be the only ones who could do that?"

**"I'm not sure who it was, other than to say that he had a sharingan and only his right eye. He was wearing a mask so I couldn't see his face. I want to say that it was that bastard Madara, but he should have been dead by then. All I know is that he escaped the battle with your Yondaime, so you should keep an eye out. He tried to take me once and use me to destroy your village, there's a good chance that he'll try to do so again."**

* * *

- End of Flashback –

The story of what happened to his parents still made him growl to this day, even though it's been months since he first heard the story. If it wasn't for that masked bastard, he might have had a family. The villagers wouldn't have treated him like shit. He would have had proper training and more than four people who cared about him in his life.

His life would have been extremely different.

There was nothing that he could do now however, so he focused on his training, determined to get stronger so that he could protect himself, everyone he cared for, and to one day avenge his parents. One thing though that he refused to do was let his hatred rule over his life. He knew that his parents wanted him to have a happy life, and he was determined to make them proud, so that on the day that he finally met them, he could hold his head high and meet them with a smile.

So every day he would go and study calligraphy and sealing with the Kyuubi. One thing that surprised him was that the greatest seal master that Konoha ever had wasn't his father or mother, but the wife of the first Hokage, Mito Uzumaki. While his parents were extremely talented, especially his father for not being an Uzumaki, the village of Uzushiogakure was destroyed when his mother was still a child. She did have some Uzumaki style sealing training, but most of what the clan knew was lost with its destruction and Mito had already passed on by then.

Mito had been fully trained however, and the fox retained all of her memories. So he proceeded to train Naruto in the Uzumaki style art of sealing. Naruto would create dozens of shadow clones and split them into two groups. One group would practice his calligraphy while another group would learn sealing theory and the basics of sealing. Making a mistake during the process of creating a seal can have dramatic and dangerous results, so until his calligraphy was perfect he wouldn't be doing any practical exercises at all.

And then, after his lessons on sealing, he would end the day by practicing with his dojutsu, which he had named Chuukuugan (Hollow Eye) after remembering that hollow aspect his voice had when he first discovered his eyes. Naruto had shown his eyes to the Kyuubi hoping that he knew something about them, but the fox had never seen anything like them. So at the end of every day he would have Naruto practice with his eyes to see what they could do.

First he would go out into the village and while hiding watch the villagers with his Chuukuugan activated. With this he saw that he could see the chakra that the villagers contained, although it was not clear enough to see the chakra pathways or tenketsu. When he secretly watched a shinobi train, he noticed that he could see him gathering chakra to his hands and lungs, right before he blew out a large fireball. Not only that, but he could see the chakra as a red color, which let him understand that he could also see the nature of the chakra.

From his studies into dojutsu, he knew that the sharingan had a similar ability, so when he was on his own he tried to see if he had copied the jutsu that he saw. Unfortunately, he was unable to perform the technique which showed that his eyes did not have that aspect in common with the sharingan.

Naruto did however notice that he could keep track of high speed opponents. His eyes did allow him to process visual information at a much higher rate, letting him see his others moving as if they were in slow motion. He knew however that if his body did not have the speed to match his newfound reaction time, then this ability was next to useless. So he and the fox decided to alter his training slightly to focus a bit more on increasing his speed.

One of the abilities that made his dojutsu different from the other two eye based Kekkei Genkai however he discovered by accident. While all out sparring with his clones, one of them sent a C class wind technique at him named Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough) that he had picked up from a scroll at the library. He realized that he had no way to dodge the jutsu, so he focused his chakra to his feet to hold himself in place and kept his eyes open just in case another attack was thrown into the mix.

When the attack hit him, he realized that something was off. Instead of getting injured from the blast of air hitting him, he felt slightly rejuvenated. Also, the attack seemed to be weakening by the moment. That was when he realized that his eyes seemed to be absorbing the chakra from the attack and adding it to his own reserves.

As soon as he realized this, he stopped the spar and started experimenting with his eye's new ability. He found that he didn't even need to come in contact with the jutsu to be able to absorb its chakra; all he needed was to be able to see it. It was like his eyes were a black hole or great emptiness that needed to be filled so it sucked in all the chakra that it could see. He could even suck out the chakra from his clones, although whether or not it was because they themselves were a jutsu or because he could absorb the chakra directly from others only time would tell. He was not about to risk his eyes being discovered by trying it on people.

He began practicing with this technique, which he named Tamashii no Shouhi (Soul Consumption), with his clones and managed to increase the speed and amount by which he could absorb chakra to the point where C class jutsu would be absorbed completely before even reaching him.

Naruto also found that like the Byakugan he had telescopic vision, allowing him to see things in the distance with clarity, although from what he read his range was not as great as the Hyuga clan's Kekkei Genkai. Still, when used in conjunction with his Tamashii no Shouhi this had the potential to become a fearsome technique, able to subdue or even kill enemies from afar and out of their range if his eyes did indeed allow him to absorb chakra from another being.

After training his dojutsu, he would then have dinner, which no longer consisted of only ramen due to the Kyuubi's new diet regimen. He would Henge into random civilians and purchase his groceries at a normal price. Due to now being able to afford fresh food, he also bought a cook book and began teaching himself how to cook. With a new, balanced diet he had grown some and was no longer the shrimp of the class, now being of average height for his age.

At the end of the day he would then get ready for bed and then spend some time in the Source level of his mindscape. He would spend some time meditating on his chakra, which also helped him to slightly increase his control, but would spend most of his time in his pool of spiritual energy, relishing the feeling of utter peace that came with it, not to mention the overall benefits of increased clarity of thought that seemed to only increase the more time he spent in the pool. He would spend some time in his pool of physical energy, but the pool of spiritual energy was by far his favorite. Afterwards, he would then get some sleep.

After six months of training like this he had notice a marked improvement on his abilities and skills. He knew that if he wanted he could now easily pass the Academy exams, which was normally only allowed for students who were in at least their fourth year in class, where he was only in his second. He would rank himself as a Genin in terms of overall ability from what he has seen of the shinobi of the village.

However, with his newfound clarity of thought he realized that the Civilian Council would only search for the weakest of excuses to make sure that he failed the second graduation exam. He had found out about this exam by watching the graduating students so that he could get an idea as to what to expect when it was his turn. All of the tests were different based on who was giving them, but they all had the same theme which was teamwork. As long as he showed teamwork with the other members of his team he would have no problems, theoretically anyways.

Naruto knew that the Civilian Council would use any means necessary to make sure that he did not make it into the shinobi ranks and out of their authority where they could make his life miserable. They would probably even fail his entire team along with him if they could. His only chance was with his current classmates, the majority of which were clan heirs. They were the only ones that could not be failed out of hand without causing suspicion, which meant that he had to wait.

Besides, this also gave him more time to increase and refine his skills, to make sure that he was ready for whatever came his way when he began his career. So he stayed at the bottom of the class while he trained in secret.

He was now relaxing after another day of training in his pool of spiritual energy. He was gently floating in the pool, which looked odd seeing as the fluid in the pool did not seem anywhere near dense enough to support him. After a while he had a sudden urge to try to sink to the bottom of his pool, something that he had never done before. So he took a deep breath even though it was unnecessary due to the fact that he was in his own mind and could not drown and dove under the surface.

As he descended he noticed that the pool was much deeper than it appeared to be from above. Not only that, but unlike a pool of water his surroundings did not get darker from a lack of light as he descended, although like water he could still only see a short ways ahead of him.

Eventually Naruto came to the deepest part of the pool, and here he felt a pressure that was unlike anything he had ever felt before. He was not affected by it since it was his own, but he imagined that others would have been nearly crushed by what he was feeling. Not only that, but he somehow also felt the same pressure as what was being produced by his spiritual energy emanating from a specific point within the lake. It was odd in that it seemed to be both apart of himself and yet also different.

He decided to take a closer look at what was producing this spiritual pressure and headed towards the source. When he found it he was amazed.

Naruto looked down upon a well-crafted sword that seemed to be of remarkable quality. While it seemed to just be of standard design for a katana, the craftsmanship behind it was exquisite. Also the metal used to create the sword was not one that he had ever seen before. It was not the standard steel or chakra metal that he has seen in shops, but a metal that seemed somehow brighter.

_'What is this doing here of all places?'_ he thought to himself. _'Let's take a closer look at this up above.' _And with that thought, he picked up the sword and swam to the surface. When he left the pool however, as soon as the sword completely dried up it faded away.

"Shit!" he screamed. "What happened to the sword? Maybe it went back to the pool again?"

With that he dove again into the pool of spiritual energy and searched for the sword. To his relief, the sword had indeed gone back to the bottom of the pool.

_'If the sword disappears as soon as it dries up, then how the heck am I going to find out anything about it?' _He thought about the problem for a few minutes. _'… maybe if I quickly take it over to my physical energy pool? It should strengthen it like it does to me, which might make it possible to exist outside of my spiritual energy pool. And I remember how it caused the Kyuubi's chakra to harden and take form as a mask the first time I came down here.'_

He continued thinking about the problem for a few more minutes. _'Might as well try it, the worst that could happen is that nothing occurs, right?'_ and with that thought, he picked up the sword once more and swam to the surface.

This time, as soon as Naruto reached the surface he hurried over to his pool of physical energy and placed the sword within. As soon as he did so his physical energy in the area of the sword began to boil, although there was no heat involved. And the sword itself began to emit a bright light that was nearly blinding. He turned his face away from the light to protect his eyes, but as soon as the light died down he turned back to see what had happened.

The broiling surface of the pool of physical energy had calmed down again, and the sword itself seemed to be in pristine condition, although it now also seems to be sporting a sheath. He lifted the sword out of the pool and waited for it to completely dry off. Once it dried he waited for a few more minutes to see if there were any other effects, but nothing happened.

Exited that his idea worked, he drew the sword from its sheath. As he gazed in awe at the blade, he suddenly heard a deep voice in his mind. **_'Hello partner, it's nice to meet you. Although I must say that this is the first time a living person has ever activated his zanpakuto without outside assistance.'_**

He jerked his head around quickly, searching for the source of the voice. "Who's there? Where are you?" he shouted.

**_'Where am I? Well that's quite simple to answer, I'm in your hands at the moment. As for who am I, that's a bit more difficult to explain, not to mention the fact that you might not be able to hear me for all of it.'_**

This explanation just made Naruto shocked and confused, which he made known with a shout. "What the hell?! What do you mean 'you're the sword'? And how the hell can I not hear all of it if I can hear you fine right now?!"

Naruto heard what seemed to be a chuckle in his mind. **_'I'm what's known as a zanpakuto, a sword that is an extension of a soul with a mind of its own. We are the weapons of beings known as Shinigami, and we provide incredible power to our wielders. We were added to human souls by Kami at the request of the true Shinigami so that humans can be trained to aid him in preserving the balance of the world.'_**

**_'As such, we were given knowledge of a great many things, so that we can assist our wielders in preparing themselves for their duties. Since we are a part of their soul, some of this knowledge on how to use us bleeds over, and is instinctually used. The only problem with this system normally is that it usually takes years of training for a Shinigami to be able to hear us, although you seem to be able to right from the start.'_**

"This. Is. Awesome!" Naruto replied with stars in his eyes after hearing all of that. He thought that this was the coolest thing that he ever heard. "Does this mean that I'm a Shinigami? What can a Shinigami do? Will you help me train? This is so cool!"

The sword gave another chuckle in his mind. '**_Yes, you are a Shinigami, and yes I will help you train. As for what a Shinigami can do… well, let me give you an overview.'_**

**_'First, Shinigami are souls that guide the souls of the dead to the afterlife. They have also been empowered and trained to fight spirits that have stayed too long in this world and due to their regrets turned into beings called Hollows. Hollows are beings that eat other souls. To fight Hollows, Shinigami are trained in several skills, all of which rely in one form or another spiritual energy, also known as reiryoku.'_**

**_'The first and most basic skill that is taught is Zanjutsu. Zanjutsu is basically sword techniques that can be used with all zanpakuto. It is comparable with your Kenjutsu, although it utilizes reiryoku instead of chakra.'_**

**_'The second skill set that is taught to all Shinigami is Hakuda. This is unarmed fighting that is taught so that Shinigami can still fight even if for some reason they have lost their swords. Its equivalent in your world is Taijutsu, but like Zanjutsu it uses reiryoku instead of chakra.'_**

**_'The next skill set that is taught to all Shinigami is Hoho. Hoho are movement techniques that were created for battle. They assist and amplify Zanjutsu and Hakuda. With Hoho, one learns to stand in the air, move so fast that they cannot be seen, and other movement based techniques that allow fighters to better use their skills.'_**

**_'The last skill set taught to all Shinigami is called Kido. This is the Shinigami equivalent of Ninjutsu. These are spells that use reiryoku to attack, restrain, protect, and even heal. Instead of using hand signs like Ninjutsu, it uses incantations to cast instead. However users that are adept in Kido can forgo the incantations and just call out the name of the spell they are using, although this weakens the spell by up to 75%. True masters however can forgo the incantation with little loss to the spell's power. Not only that, but some can even cast spells without even saying anything.'_**

**_'There are three classes of Kido, most of which are graded with numbers 1-99. The higher the number, the more difficult and powerful the spell, although there are a few exceptions. The first of the three classes are Bakudo, which are barrier, sealing, and restraining spells. These spells are used to assist the caster in battle, and are mostly supplementary in nature. The second is Hado, which are attack spells. These inflict damage on an enemy. The third class is Kaido, which are spells that are used to heal.'_**

With each thing that Naruto heard, he became more and more exited. His imagination began to run wild with thoughts of everything that he would one day be able to do. But then he had a thought that brought everything to a screeching halt. "Wait a second; you said that all of these skills use reiryoku right? I can only use chakra, so can I use these skills too?"

**_'Yes, you can use these skills as well, although you can't use them with chakra. Think about it, chakra is just your physical energy, which is also known as ki, and reiryoku combined. If you can use chakra, then what would prevent you from using your reiryoku alone? This also has the added benefit of allowing you to use techniques that the sharingan can't copy or even really follow, since there is no chakra for it to see.'_**

"Yes! This is one of the best days ever!" With this Naruto began jumping around his mindscape in glee. He just knew that he was going to become the best shinobi of all time. "This is amazing, I'm going to be so awesome!"

After cheering for a few more minutes, Naruto finally began calming down. After a moment, another thought came into his head. "Hey, I have a question… you know, I never got your name. What is it?" he asked.

**_'My name is …..'_**

"What was that? I couldn't hear you for some reason." Naruto stated.

**_'This is what I meant earlier when I said that you might not be able to hear me for all of my explanation. It has to do with the nature of zanpakuto. I told you earlier that we provide power to our wielders. The do this by transforming. You see, we have three states that we exist in. The first state is out Sealed state. In this mode we have no special abilities beyond being stronger and sharper than the average sword, and being able to conduct reiryoku through us to strengthen attacks and even perform some simple attacks.'_**

**_'Then we have our Shikai forms. These forms are the first steps of our released states, and give us special abilities. Our appearances change, and we increase the abilities of our users as well. The stronger our user is, the more their power increases. To get to this stage, you need to be able to hear our names. Once you are strong enough to handle my released state, you will be able to hear me when I state your name and you will also instinctively know the command phrase to release my Shikai. Not only that, but you will also be able to meet my true form here in your mindscape.'_**

**_'The final state is our Bankai. This form releases all of our true power, and increases the power of the wielder by 5-10 times their power from the Shikai form. While usually our powers in this state is a stronger or more versatile version of our Shikai, sometimes we gain entirely new powers in addition to, or instead of, our old powers. This is by far the hardest stage to get to, and usually takes at least 10 years of training after achieving Shikai. Even then, not all who attempt to achieve Bankai succeed.'_**

Naruto was so excited by the how strong he could possibly be that even the news of how long it could take to reach this power or the fact that he might not be able to reach it at all barely phased him. He was determined to succeed even if it killed him. "Just you wait, I'll achieve Bankai and in less than ten years too!" he shouted.

The sword was amused at the antics of his wielder. 'If so then you want to get some rest. I think I know of a way to materialize myself in the real world, and I'll teach you how to do it in the morning.'

With that, Naruto went to get some rest. Tomorrow was going to start a new phase in his training, and he wanted to be ready for it.

* * *

**Author's Notes: That's the end of the third chapter, and part three of the Finding Arc. Please, read and review to let me know what you think so far.**


	4. Author's Notes

**Hi everyone, sorry for the delay in posting this notification. Just to assure you, I'm not discontinuing the story. After taking into account a lot of the messages and reviews I've received about this story, I've been going through the chapters and making changes. Nothing about the content is being changed, but I'm reworking them to be easier to read. One of the main complaints were that the chapters were basically information dumps, and looking over them I have to agree. **

**So I'm reworking them to better flow and seem less information heavy while still keeping the content the same. All in all, when I'm done the chapters should be longer but more enjoyable.**

**I'm also working on the next chapter, as well as working on my second story, "Fade to Blacklight". That is why there has been no activity for this story for a while. When I'm finished making the changes to the chapters, and have finished chapter 4 of the story, I'll release everything together in one mass update. This should be the last time I make a mass release, at least for a while.**

**Thanks for your patience and I hope that everyone enjoys the reworked story when its out.**


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